


Right Beside You

by mmmrrrw



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Canon Compliant, Drabble, F/F, Manga Spoilers, Near Death Experiences
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-16
Updated: 2017-01-16
Packaged: 2018-09-09 09:46:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8886157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mmmrrrw/pseuds/mmmrrrw
Summary: After the near death of her childhood friend, Mikasa is comforted by Hanji.





	

**Author's Note:**

> (i still write, shockingly enough)
> 
> here is a very, very belated gift to [emojigo](http://emojigo.tumblr.com/), a great friend and beautiful artist. pls check them out and send them some love (especially on their art blog) 
> 
> *oneshot takes place between chapters 84 and 85 of the manga and there aren't like, any major spoilers but y'know...
> 
> also, i couldn't bring myself to kill off armin i'm sorry. :/

“Mikasa, will you walk with me?”

She hadn’t moved since they’d scaled the walls. It was almost as if she was glued still to the surface, and perhaps she was. Maybe Mikasa wasn’t in control of her body at this moment, some unknown and all powerful force leaving her out of it.

Her dark eyes were sullen, resting on the moving chest below. Every second or so her fingers would twitch with need, an undeniable urge to caress the boy in front of her.

As if to see if he was real.

Hanji crouched down beside her when she realized that Mikasa wasn’t going to pay her mind otherwise. It worked.

Just the slightest, her head tilted over to her, her eyes looking at the scientist through the messy strands of her black hair. She faced forward again.

Hanji didn’t bother to try to get her to leave the boy be again. Instead of persisting, she followed the scout’s gaze and breathed deeply.

“I miss the way your eyes looked back when you first joined,” she commented, her voice soft enough to hear even as the wind picked up. Her hair was splayed about her face, her untidy ponytail was undone. She didn’t bother to go looking for a hair tie to put it back in place. “I know I shouldn’t be surprised… I should be used to the change with how long I’ve been in the scouts, but…”

Hanji went silent.

Mikasa ran her tongue over her chapped and well-bitten lips before she forced herself to look Hanji’s way. “What is it?” Her voice was hoarse, no doubt dry, and sounded painful enough that Hanji winced a bit.

She grabbed hold of one of the few canteens they still had and offered to the younger soldier, who took it only after a moment’s hesitation.

As Mikasa tilted her head back and drank, almost eagerly, Hanji continued, “I think I let my mind get clouded this time around. I let myself ignore the possibility of something like this happening… something that could break you.”

Mikasa laid the hand holding the canteen down against her knee, and mumbled, “I’m not broken.”

Hanji’s eyelids lowered and she scooted closer to Mikasa’s side, taking hold of her free hand. “Most definitely not,” she agreed. “You just reminded me of someone, is all.”

Mikasa laid her eyes back upon the sleeping boy beside them. “Who?”

“Me,” Hanji answered quietly. Mikasa’s head snapped toward her, her eyes wide in surprise. The question of how? didn’t even need to be voiced aloud.

“It was your eyes,” she explained. “They… were terrifying. I had only seen that kind of look once before, and it was when I looked at myself in the mirror after the deaths of my comrades…”

“What did you do to make it feel better?” Mikasa asked with a hint of sadness in her voice.

Hanji gestured to herself now with a small, sad smile. “I dedicated all of my time and effort to advance forward, even though it wasn’t easy. I was so angry, I just…”

Hanji shook her head and stopped short.

“But you don’t have to worry about that,” she continued. “Armin’s here breathing. He’s alive, Mikasa.”

“He could have died…”

Hanji couldn’t hold herself back any longer. She surged forward and took Mikasa into a warm embrace, squeezing her tight.

Mikasa in turn buried her face into Hanji’s chest and sniffled. “He’s alive?” she asked in whisper.

“He’s alive,” Hanji spoke, burying her face into Mikasa’s hair. “And he’s not going anywhere else.”


End file.
